Tobacco Free Europe

Tools for NGOs

xavier — 2009-05-25T14:24:46Z

There are many ways that you can show your support for the Tobacco Free Europe campaign: promoting the campaign through your website, newsletters and mailings, for example adding the logo and website address to your email signature.

For your website or your email signature

Text only version:

Campaign for a European Parliament that acts for a Tobacco Free Europe

Or with an image:

Campaign for a European Parliament that acts for a Tobacco Free Europe

How to change your email signature ?

Tools for MEP candidates

xavier — 2009-05-25T13:51:12Z

Several tools for your web campaigns that highlight your support for Tobacco Free Europe.

If you are an MEP candidate and you haven't signed the pledge yet, please sign it now.

Button/banner for your website

You can directly add the following HTML code to your website:

On FaceBook

you can become a :

"fan" on FaceBook
"friend" on FaceBook

We will accept your request and will link the TobaccoFree Europe page to your on FaceBook page when we receive your Pledge.

On Twitter

You can follow us, we will follow you too.

Pledge Certificate

xavier — 2009-05-25T13:30:56Z

At the launch event, we printed this certificate on 200g card so that it looked nice and we gave it to MEPs that came to sign the pledge. You are welcome to download this Pledge certificate and use for your own campaigning. - Toolkit for campaigners

Co-sign the message to MEP candidates

xavier — 2009-05-25T13:22:30Z

Across the 27 EU countries, there are more than 10,000 candidates hoping to win one of the 736 seats in the European Parliament. All of these candidates could potentially sign the Tobacco Free Europe Pledge, which has been translated into many EU languages.

The election campaign is the right time to approach MEP candidates and ask them to set out their position on key issues. The Tobacco Free Europe campaign aims to get as many candidates as possible to pledge their support for tobacco control. To do this, we have collected data about the national parties and candidates standing for election. Where possible, we have also identified email addresses.

Our next step is to send a message to MEP candidates asking them to sign the Tobacco Free Europe Pledge. The text of the message in 22 EU languages can be downloaded from this article.

A message to the politicians is more powerful if it is co-signed by a local organisation that represents potential voters. What we are asking you to do is co-sign the message to MEP candidates in your country. This is a good opportunity to get to know more about who is standing for election and to develop a relationship with the people who will represent you in the European Parliament.

If your organisation is interested in joining the campaign and co-signing the letter, you need to send us an email with the details of your organisation and your logo.

We will use the central database and mailing tool to send the message, but it will feature your logo and the name of your organisation. Any MEP candidate signs the pledge will automatically be added to the list of signatories in your country so you can see the results of the email campaign.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Finding tobacco control champions in the new European Parliament

xavier — 2009-05-25T09:55:14Z

Please feel free to adapt and translate this article and publish it in your website and newsletters.

To make it more relevant to your audience, we suggest that if you use this text, you add links directly to the TobaccoFree webpage showing the Pledge in your language. This will also show the candidates that have already signed the Pledge in your country.

Tobacco Free Europe is an initiative by a consortium of NGOs to keep tobacco control high on the European political agenda.

In Europe, tobacco kills 650,00 people every year, which means one death every 48 seconds. In addition 13 million people will suffer ill health and disease as a result of tobacco. This is the bad news. The good news is that this suffering and death is entirely preventable. Many years of tobacco control policies have reduced smoking rates in Europe, but there is still a lot of policy initiatives that could be taken to reduce tobacco use even further.

On 4-7 June 2009, elections will be held for the 7th mandate of the European Parliament. 736 MEPs will be elected across the 27 countries of the EU, many of whom will be new to the EU scene. The European Parliament is important for tobacco control, MEPs debate and vote on relevant issues like advertising and marketing restrictions, health warnings, tobacco taxes, regulation of permitted ingredients in cigarettes. At Tobacco Free Europe, we see these elections as an opportunity to develop new relationships and partnerships with incoming MEPs that will become the next champions for tobacco control in the European Parliament.

We have developed the Pledge for MEP candidates to sign, to show their commitment to the principles of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first treaty for public health. This Pledge is a list of actions that the World Health Organization has identified as being effective in helping people to stop smoking and cutting the number of people who start smoking.

The goal of this website is to show which candidates for election for the European Parliament have signed the Pledge. Inclusion of an MEP candidate on this website shows their support for tobacco control, it does not imply an endorsement of their political position.

If you are an MEP candidate and want to sign the Pledge, please click here to be taken to the sign-up page

If you think that MEPs should work towards a Tobacco Free Europe and you want to help with the campaign, you could contact your national parties or candidates to ask them to sign the Tobacco Free Europe Pledge. On this website you can find the list of most of the national parties that have candidates standing for election.

If you want to get involved in the campaign more actively, send an email.

You can also use Facebook to become a 'friend' or 'fan of the Tobacco Free Europe campaign. You can also contact MEP candidates this way to invite them to sign the Pledge.

Launch of the “Tobacco Free Europe” campaign

xavier — 2009-05-04T11:30:42Z

Keeping tobacco control on the political agenda

Every 48 seconds, someone in Europe dies from smoking-related causes. These deaths are preventable.
Tobacco use costs the European economy more than € 100 billion a year, wasting money and lives.

It is time to take action for a 'Tobacco Free Europe'.

In the European Union alone, over 650,000 Europeans die every year because they smoke. This figure accounts for one in seven of all deaths across the continent. In total, over 13 million people are suffering from a serious chronic disease as a result of their smoking. As the potential for a flu pandemic grows, ensuring that people are healthy, with strong immune systems and in good respiratory health it has never been more important to keep tobacco control firmly on the political agenda.

The Smoke Free Partnership, which is made up of Cancer Research UK, the European Heart Network, the European Respiratory Society and the Institut National du Cancer is therefore launching its “Tobacco Free Europe” campaign. Supported by myriad politicians, this campaign aims at ensuring that the valuable progress in tobacco control made over the past decade continues and develops well in to the future.

What?

Signature of the 'Tobacco Free Europe Pledge'. Launch of tobacco Tobacco Free Europe campaign.

Who?

Mr Luk Joossens, Association of European Cancer Leagues, Steering Committee for the Smoke Free Europe Campaign
Ms Frieda Brepoels, MEP, PPE, Belgium
Ms Catherine Stihler, MEP, PES, UK
Ms Liz Lynne, MEP, ALDE, UK
Mr Jan BŘEZINA, MEP, PPE Czech Republic
Mr Csaba SÓGOR, MEP, ALDE, Romania

When?

7 May 2009 at 12.30 Tobacco Free Europe manifesto pledge - open for signature by all MEPs between 11.30 and 13.30

Where?

European Parliament, Strasbourg, (Espace "Bronislav Geremek", inner yard of the European Parliament)

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

xavier — 2009-04-16T11:10:00Z

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization. The WHO FCTC is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The WHO FCTC represents a paradigm shift in developing a regulatory strategy to address addictive substances; in contrast to previous drug control treaties, the WHO FCTC asserts the importance of demand reduction strategies as well as supply issues.

The WHO FCTC was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. The spread of the tobacco epidemic is facilitated through a variety of complex factors with cross-border effects, including trade liberalization and direct foreign investment. Other factors such as global marketing, transnational tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the international movement of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes have also contributed to the explosive increase in tobacco use.

The core demand reduction provisions in the WHO FCTC are contained in articles 6-14:

Price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, and

Non-price measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, namely:

Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke;
Regulation of the contents of tobacco products;
Regulation of tobacco product disclosures;
Packaging and labelling of tobacco products;
Education, communication, training and public awareness;
Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and,
Demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation.

The core supply reduction provisions in the WHO FCTC are contained in articles 15-17:

Illicit trade in tobacco products;
Sales to and by minors; and,
Provision of support for economically viable alternative activities.

The WHO FCTC opened for signature on 16 June to 22 June 2003 in Geneva, and thereafter at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Depositary of the treaty, from 30 June 2003 to 29 June 2004. The treaty, which is now closed for signature, has 168 Signatories, including the European Community, which makes it one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history. Member States that have signed the Convention indicate that they will strive in good faith to ratify, accept, or approve it, and show political commitment not to undermine the objectives set out in it. Countries wishing to become a Party, but that did not sign the Convention by 29 June 2004, may do so by means of accession, which is a one-step process equivalent to ratification.

The Convention entered into force on 27 February 2005 - 90 days after it had been acceded to, ratified, accepted, or approved by 40 States.

WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic

xavier — 2009-04-16T10:48:33Z

The first comprehensive worldwide analysis of tobacco use and control efforts. It provides countries with a roadmap to reverse the devastating global tobacco epidemic that could kill up to one billion people by the end of this century.


mpower 2008

The report outlines the MPOWER package, a set of six key tobacco control measures that reflect and build on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Pledge for Members of the European Parliament

xavier — 2009-04-16T10:47:56Z

The pledge list is based on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first public health treaty. The Treaty has been ratified by 26 EU Member States and the European Commission. It reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health.

Tobacco is the main cause of preventable death in Europe, killing 1 in 2 smokers and resulting in up to 19,000 deaths from second hand smoke (other people's cigarettes). Smoking related illnesses and premature deaths cost the EU economy about 100 billion € every year.

As an MEP, I pledge to promote the effective implementation of the FCTC.

Comprehensive protection from tobacco smoke;
Strong measures to counter tobacco marketing, promotion and imagery;
Commitment to taxation as a tool to reduce smoking prevalence;
Tough new measures to control tobacco smuggling;
Promotion of effective stop smoking measures;
Stopping tobacco industry influence on government's tobacco control policies;
Making the industry liable for its actions;

Tobacco or Health in the European Union

xavier — 2009-04-15T12:50:00Z

The Tobacco or Health in the European Union: Past, present and future, or the ASPECT report, was published in October 2005 and launched by Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, David Byrne, at a press conference in Brussels. The report sets out recommendations for action at European level that are based on sound science and proven to be effective in reducing tobacco consumption.

First Name *
Last Name *
Email *
	We won't display your email, but we need it to validate your pledge.
National party

City
Country *
	We will use this country to display you on a map
Website